1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to the art of photography and short motion pictures. More particularly, it relates to methods for creating an illusion that an individual is participating in an activity such as a conventional sport, an extreme sport, or an activity unrelated to a particular sport but which seems to require a high degree of physical training, strength, and skill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Extreme sports are sports that involve a very high degree of athletic endeavor. As such, they are considered to be more extreme than traditional sports such as soccer, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, croquet, golfing, bowling, and the like. Sports often categorized as extreme sports include surfing, skating, skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, kiteboarding, acrobatic skiing, kayaking in white water, hang gliding, rock climbing, ice climbing, tightrope walking, stunt motorcycling, stunt bicycling, stunt snowmobiling, stunt automobile driving, and the like. This list is not exhaustive, there being many other sporting activities in the category of extreme sports.
Those who have the athletic ability to engage in extreme sports usually enjoy being photographed or filmed. Such recording enables them to share their exciting moments with friends who were not present to view the activity as it happened.
Many people enjoy the traditional sports as well and would also like to be photographed or filmed while enjoying such activity. Even non-athletes enjoy being photographed or filmed in the apparent performance of an unusual activity, even if the activity is unconnected to sports.
Activities of the type that would make a good photograph or a good short motion picture are often performed when an athlete is alone or in a spot that is difficult for a photographer or film-maker to reach. Although a professional photographer or film-maker can photograph or film virtually any activity anywhere, the athlete may not want to spend the funds required to retain a professional photographer or film-maker. Thus, a photographic subject often relies on friends to attempt to photograph or film him or her while engaged in a conventional or extreme sport, or a strenuous activity unrelated to sports, but the results are typically unsatisfactory. For example, it is difficult for an amateur photographer or film-maker to capture a dramatic moment in time such as a surfer or skier flying through the air when the subject is moving and the shooting environment is imperfect. It is also difficult to stage such a shot in a studio on dry land without resorting to cropping techniques where sporting equipment and the like are cropped from the picture.
Moreover, there are many people who lack the athleticism to actually perform a dramatic stunt of the type that would make a great photograph or short film. They may be good skateboarders, for example, but they may lack the skill to ride a rail down a long flight of stairs. Nonetheless, they would like a photograph or film of themselves performing an activity that they are unable to actually perform.
There are also many non-athletes who lack even the most basic skills yet would enjoy showing their friends photographs or films of themselves apparently performing an amazing stunt in an extreme sport or some other activity that may be unrelated to sports but which requires great athleticism, skill, or courage.
Photographers long ago developed obvious illusions such as an upstanding wall having painted thereon the body of a “muscle man” or a “bathing beauty” having no head so that a photographic subject could stand behind the wall and position his or her head where the muscle man's or bathing beauty's head would be to create the illusion that the subject is very muscular or shapely. Such well-known illusions suffer from the fact that they are obviously gags. No effort is made to actually create a photograph that convinces a viewer that a photographic subject really does possess an idealized physique.
U.S. Pat. No. 361,893 to Mestayer et al. discloses a toboggan having wheels and a braking mechanism that are hidden from the view of a theatrical audience when the toboggan, occupied by three actors, apparently slides down a hill side. The prop that serves as the hillside is positioned so that it conceals the wheels and the braking mechanism that are positioned below the plane of the surface upon which the actors sit while riding the apparent toboggan.
The Mestayer theatrical apparatus thus harnesses the principle of concealing parts that must remain unseen by an audience. However, the concealment means is not a naturally occurring element in a scene, like a rail in a skateboard park, a leash hanging from a surfboard, the tailpipe of a vehicle, and so on. Instead, it is just a wall with scenery painted thereon much like the “muscle man” cut outs mentioned above. Therefore, its presence is unnatural and its concealment function is clear to everyone in the audience. If a naturally-occurring concealment means is used, its function as a concealment means is not comprehended by viewers of the scene. Use of a naturally-occurring element in a scene as a concealment means is a teaching of the present invention, not of the prior art.
Moreover, the Mestayer audience never sees the entire toboggan. The rounded front end is visible, thereby suggesting that the vehicle is a toboggan, but a real toboggan is a sled so the wheels and braking mechanism of the simulated toboggan must remain concealed. Moreover, the apparent toboggan is seen in its ordinary, on-the-ground state. There is no suggestion in Mestayer as to how the toboggan could be fully exposed to view and posed in an apparent extreme action position, such as hurtling through the air at an angle.
It is worth observing again that the means for concealing the wheels and braking mechanism is a mere stage prop having little authenticity. When a concealment device is obviously used for concealment, the resulting photo or film is far from convincing. However, Mestayer neither teaches nor suggests the use of naturally appearing objects as concealment or support devices. The presence of a large rock, for example, in a scene where large rocks would be expected, enables such rock to serve as a support means, a concealment means, or both, without arousing suspicion in the minds of the viewers of the photo or short film.
A means for performing the classic stage illusion of a levitating individual is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 838,979 to Goldin. The body and clothing of the individual conceal a steel support upon which an individual reclines in a supine position and mechanical means for raising and lowering the steel support is concealed beneath a stage. An attendant of the magician stands in front of a post that is connected to the steel support and which is raised and lowered by the mechanism beneath the stage, thereby concealing the presence of the post.
The Goldin structure thus teaches that support structures may be concealed by a participant's body and clothing and by the positioning of an attendant. It is limited, however, in that the individual performing the apparent levitation must lie in a horizontal plane in a supine position and thus no action may be simulated.
Further, it is completely dependent upon the presence and positioning of additional persons, other than the individual performing the apparent levitation, to conceal the supports.
Moreover, since all supports are concealed, the levitating individual cannot react with any prop such as an item of sporting equipment or a generic, non-sporting item.
Nor is there a suggestion in Goldin that the concealment means could be something other than a human being nor is there a suggestion that a non-human concealment means could be disguised by placing it in full view as a naturally occurring part of a scene.
Another levitation device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,566 to Molovinsky. It also relies upon a magician or an assistant standing in front of a post that lifts and lowers a table upon which an individual lies in a supine position. Since all supports are concealed, the levitating individual cannot react with any prop and therefore no action may be simulated. The illusion requires motors, a stage with an opening formed it, and so on. If the structure is portable, it is not readily portable.
Another magician's apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,487,140 to Karson. A piece of cloth is held at its opposing top comers in concealing relation to a ball. A long wire extends from a finger of the magician that is held behind the cloth and the ball has a socket formed therein adapted to be engaged by a plug at the free end of the wire. This enables the magician to create the illusion that the ball is moving behind the cloth under its own power. A human individual could not be supported at the end of a fingermounted wire so the Karson apparatus has no bearing on illusions or simulations that involve human individuals.
A ski position simulator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,776 to Corrigan. The skis are mounted in cantilevered relation to a support stand and an individual then poses on the skis as if executing a jump. A photographer must frame the photograph by cropping the support stand out of the viewfinder of the camera. In doing so, the trailing ends of the skis are conspicuously chopped off at the edge of the photograph. Since the pair of skis cannot be in their entirety, the resulting photograph is easily identified as a simulation.
Nor does the Corrigan structure have the flexibility to allow a user to adopt a number of poses with the skis. The user simply leans forward, as if making a jump from a ramp, but the resulting photograph is low on the scale of authenticity. The apparatus approximates the look of a jumping skier but the resulting scene lacks realism. Nor is there an ability to capture a sequence of shots or any suggestion as to how a sequence of shots could be captured.
“Green screen” or “blue screen” technology includes the capturing of a person's image which is then digitally altered by computer means. Such technology can create very realistic action scenes, and such technology is in use in the tourist industry.
What is needed, then, is a new generation of photographic platforms that are not subject to the limitations of the well-known gag platforms of the past or to the limitations presented by levitation devices or techniques that rely on photograph cropping, blue screen technology, and the like. The new generation of photographic platforms should produce photographs and short films that appear to be authentic, with no hint of the use of support means, camera tricks, or digital alteration. The photographic subject, however, should be able to appear in such photographs while seated, standing, crouching, lying, jumping, or otherwise posed on a safe, non-moving platform so that the photography session is conducted in a safe, relaxed atmosphere. The resulting photograph should not be cropped, but should depict an entire piece of sport or generic equipment being used by an individual in a simulated action photograph. The equipment, like the individual apparently using it, should appear to be unsupported.
In the present disclosure, the term “unsupported” has two distinct meanings. In the first meaning, it refers to a photographed or filmed scene where an individual or individuals in said scene appear to be using equipment that has no apparent physical means of support. The actual support may appear in the scene, but it is disguised as a leash around an ankle, for example. In a second meaning, the actual support is not disguised but its use as a support means is not readily apparent.
For example, where an individual may appear to be riding a skateboard down an inclined rail, the rail or a safety surface connected to the rail provides the support for a stationary skateboard. However, in the resulting photograph, the rail seems to provide the challenge for the rider, not the support means for a safe, posed photograph. Thus it can be said that the individual is apparently unsupported.
As a further example, a photograph of a skier apparently hurtling over a jagged rock is said to be apparently unsupported although the skier is technically supported by the rock.
Thus, it could be said that the first type of support means is an “actual” support means that is disguised or concealed and the second type of support means is a “technical” support means because it is neither disguised nor concealed but appears to be a natural part of the environment for the activity being performed and a casual observer will not be aware of its support function.
In this way, it can be said that the individual is apparently unsupported when actually supported by a disguised or concealed support means or technically supported when supported by an undisguised, unconcealed object that appears to be a part of the natural environment of the scene.
In view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the next generation of photographic platforms could be developed.